AFRICAN PANORAMA
Kendaja, Liberia’s cultural center, sold! The Government of Liberia has sold Kendaja to millionaire Bob Johnson. He shall build a four or five star hotel at the site.
When I first read this on FPA, I thought it was a brilliant idea that would create jobs for citizens and establish a decent place for investors to live while negotiating for businesses in Liberia. I also thought that many Liberians traveling home for vacation, especially those who lost their families and homes during the war could experience difficulties in finding a place to live, would also have a nice temporary home.
As the information on the sale of Kendaja socked in, an inner voice whispered: “Do you remember your father taking you to Kendaja as a child to watch the young dancers, girls getting out of the society bush”? I became nostalgic remembering the beautiful voice of Nimba Bird. “Oh, how beautiful was her voice and the spell-bound gyrations of the dancers?” I ponder, “Would future generations not witness this authentic Liberian revelry?”
Kendaja was a place frequented by foreign heads of states on visits to Liberia during the Tubman and Tolbert administrations. It was a place visitors went for sightseeing while enjoying the culture of Liberia. Along the majestic Atlantic Ocean stood huts of all Liberia’s ethnic groups. It was a place for the young and the old; the high, the middle and the low. It was a microcosm of Liberia’s people.
Well, the government has a simple answer. To paraphrase, “Kendaja shall be relocated and our cultural awareness will reach new heights. We need the money, the jobs and the modern facilities.” My response is “What other historic sites shall soon be gone in the name of money and modernity?”
The sale of Kendaja notwithstanding plans to open a new cultural center elsewhere, saddens me for a number of reasons. I am sad and disappointed that the history many of our children have not seen is being obliterated. Common sense and true national pride tells me that historic places should be restored for our children who are our future. Most of them were born during the war and have no knowledge of Liberia’s history. Also, the young ones who left Liberia during the years of civil unrest are now returning home to rebuild the nation and shall not see Kendaja if it is to be destroyed.
I am saddened on the thought that other historic sites will be sold and our history lost. Will Ducor Palace retain some of its history as the site where African heads of states lived as they sought to form an organization to unify the continent, the OAU? Is the Executive Pavilion never to be restored? I am sad.
I am sad that the works of one of Liberians great writers, an historian and cultural icon, Bai T. Moore, is being sold and destroyed. He worked against many challenges to create Kendaja, to place into eternity the culture of Liberia. We are fond of saying that our former leaders did nothing and they undermined Liberia’s culture; but, when there is clear evidence that some sainted fathers and mothers did a little, we do not wish to restore and preserve it. We achieve no glory when we seek to build everything anew in our name and through our name while we bulldozed the works of others. We must learn to build on the works of others. This builds legacies and true prosperity.
What bothers me most is the fact that the schools at Kendaja are gone before others are ready for the children who live there. It is hard not to use the cliché that “the children are our future”. It is said that some of the occupants at Kendaja are offspring of our famed performers. Some one has lost his/her sense of direction and priority by placing the hotel before the school.
I believe President Sirleaf means well in rebuilding and encouraging investors to help us get back on our feet but removing historic Kendaja is not the right thing to do. To me, it is like selling Liberia’s soul for thirty pieces of silver.
To retain Kendaja and achieve the objectives of our government, I propose that the modern five star hotel be blended into Kendaja. This historical site should be rehabilitated to include the five star hotel. Nothing would be lost if our painted dancing boys and girls, masked men and women, our age-old artifacts and our talking drums permeate the glamour and convenience of a modern structure and developed site. This is my idea of development and tourism. We have everything to gain with this blend of the new and the old. Liberians and tourists will live at the hotel and walk within its environs to see the beauty and trueness of Liberia.
If millionaire Johnson does not want to blend in with Kendaja or his business acumen tells him that this will not give an added value to his investment, there are many vacant lots on the Robertsfield highway that are suitable for hotels, restaurants, etc. for which he can negotiate with government and private owners. Many of these properties are beachfronts. This is an option worth considering.
Let our culture remain as it is despite the good intentions of Billionaire Johnson to invest in Liberia. Take a look at Venice, Rome, cities in China and elsewhere, the tourism is alive, bringing in billions of dollars because the old is preserve while the new is being brought in. We should do likewise.
As I remember the melodies of the then young Nimba Bird and her group and the other traditional dancers, I pray that there will be an early resolution for our future leaders who are crying for a place to learn and for the reconsideration of the sale of Kendaja.
May God continue to bless us and direct our leaders to make the right decisions as we welcome good-hearted investors into our beloved country. May God bless Liberia, the head of state and all Liberians in and out of Liberia.
Madam President, you were magnanimous to listen when Liberians cried out against the proposed revision to the Liberianization Act. I call on you as our leader, a fellow Liberian, a wife, a mother and a grandmother, to listen again to another cry, that you retain historical Kendaja as you create jobs, modernize the country, promote tourism. Name the new hotel Kendaja International and the whole center Kendaja-Bai T. Moore Cultural Center just or after some other cultural icon of Liberia as you renamed a military barracks after a politician.
I am of the conviction that when Mr. Johnson learns the true meaning of Kendaja and its historical value to Liberians, he will find it acceptable to invest in restoring it and still build his hotel. This would be a win situation.
My fellow Liberians, add your voices to this appeal that we may meet again at Kendaja someday.
Julia Gibson Thompson
gibsonthom55@aol.com
United States of America
DON'T SELL LIBERIA'S SOUL FOR THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER...
By Julia Gibson Thompson
